Data Filter: The News You Need in Easy-to-Swallow Gel Cap Form

Electronic Gaming Business, Dec 17, 2003

News-O-Matic
Whassup?: Members of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association say
they will now enforce ESRB ratings at checkout by requiring proof of age
before selling M-rated game titles. The IEMA will also require future
members to sign on to the policy as a condition of membership. In a canned
statement, industry critic Sen. Joe Lieberman called the move "a great
holiday gift to American families."
So What?: Think about how much bad press could have been avoided if this no-
brainer policy had been in place two years ago. Instead the industry took
its cues from the tobacco industry, pointing its finger at parental
responsibility and the flimsiness of media effects studies rather than
bellying up to its social responsibility. Whatever. The fine print reveals
that only some retailers are actually ready to give American parents
their Christmas gift this year, and the entire system will be in place
next year.

Whassup?: We believe industry sales of video game software during 2003
will fall well short of original analyst, publisher, and retailer
expectations, says Piper Jaffrey's Anthony Gikas in an investor
brief. He estimates sales growth for the year of a mere 6%, off of
disappointing November and December year-to-year growth of 12.5%
So What?: This is a failure of imagination, not marketing. Publishers
missed a tremendous opportunity to move the medium forward with
more dazzling designs.
Instead, we got a ton of familiar sequels and retailers complaining that
there is no killer title this Christmas. In fact, there are a lot of
highly polished games with good production values, but there is
nothing to tell consumers that this is a media industry that has the
cajones to innovate and lead consumers to new and better interactive
experiences.

Whassup?: Game download and marketing company Gigex issued a 23-page family
guide to holiday game shopping. The downloadable PDF reviewed family titles
and offered a warning that Manhunt, Roadkill, GTA: Double Pack, Legacy
of Kain and True Crime were "games to avoid for the family."
So What?: Cheers to Gigex for a good job on this pub,  although we are not
sure whether and how it will get outside of the fan-boy base and into the
hands of parents who really need it. Gigex wisely offers co-branding to
publishers who want to distribute this. It is the kind of family-friendly
outreach to parents that the ESA and ESRB, along with retailers,
should do every Christmas...in print, in stand-ups, in the stores so
bewildered and intimidated moms can find them.

Whassup?: In what seems like a weekly occurrence, yet another research
firm is claiming that wireless gaming will be the flagship data app to
drive mobile content. IDC says games on phones will generation $1 billion
in revenues by 2006. Its report says that 7.9% of wireless customers
played games on their cell this past year, but that should expand to 34%
or 65.2 million mobile gamers by 2006 in the U.S.
So What?: Well, $1 billion is a bit more realistic than the $7 billion in
mobile game revenues some firms were predicting by 2007. IDC says
that brand is king in mobile for now, with the best selling titles of 2003
including Jamdat Bowling, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Tomb Raider (on N-Gage?!)
and Splinter Cell. Our own panel of experts begs to differ, as they also
contest IDC's claim that carriers are targeting a broad consumer
base with games. None of the games IDC lists as
bestsellers sounds like a broad mass market title to us.

Whassup?: In China today 7.4 million people are already playing one of 110
online multiplayer games, says researcher Niko Partners and International
Development Group. Among these gamers 370,000 were considered hard-core
MMOGers who play 60 hours a month.
So What?: Niko estimates that 95% of video games and 96% of PC games
played in China are pirated. MMOGs represent a way of cashing in on this
monstrously large market (234 million in the 14- to 24-year-old demo alone)
and get around the piracy problem because players cannot get around
online game service fees. While PCs have only a 4.8% penetration here,
there are 100,000 "Internet bars" where users get their computer
fix.

Top Video Game Rental (for week ending Dec. 7)
This  Last   Title\Platform\Publisher               Weekly    Total
Week  Week                                          Earnings  Earnings
1     3      Need for Speed Underground\PS2\EA      459,621   1,205,521
2     1      Medal of Honor: Rising Sun\PS2\EA      457,549   2,461,020
3     4      True Crime\PS2\Activision              332,150   1,745,973
4     2      Tony Hawk Underground\PS2\Activision   310,809   2,292,117
5     9      Manhunt\PS2\Take 2                     214,912   677,810
6     11     Socom II\PS2\Sony                      213,100   1,381,158
7     14     WWE Smackdown: Pain\PS2\THQ            208,814   1,057,951
8     6      Medial of Honor: Rising Sun\Xbox\EA    203,814   1,057,951
9     10     Final fantasy X-2\PS2\Square-Enix      201,071   605,227
10    13     Madden NFL 2004\PS2\EA                 195,056   4,597,723
Source: Rentrak